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SEE CHIEF
The Glendale tar
Glendale’s Community Weekly Since 1978
The Glendale Star is a circulation weekly published every Thursday.
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Steve T. Strickbine
Vice President
Michael Hiatt
Associate Group Publisher
Laura Meehan, 623-777-1042 lmeehan@star-times.com
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Christina Fuoco-Karasinski, christina@star-times.com
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Elaine Cota, notices@star-times.com
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Tonya Mildenberg, tmildenberg@timespublications.com
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250 N. Litchfi eld Rd., Suite 100, Goodyear, AZ 85338 623-847-4600 • FAX 623-935-2103
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Published weekly by Times Media Group, 250 N. Litchfi eld Rd., Suite 100, Goodyear, AZ 85338. Periodical postage paid at Glendale, AZ 85301. (c) 2021 Strickbine Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.
The Glendale Star is distributed by AZ Integrated Media, a circulation service company owned by Times Media Group. The public is permitted one copy per reader. For further information regarding the circulation of this publication or others in the Times Media Group family of publications, please contact AZ Integrated Media at circ@azintegratedmedia.com or 480-898-5641. For circulation services please contact Aaron Kolodny at aaron@azintegratedmedia.com. If you’re willing to take charge of people, be willing to take care of people. And I think Gray Crabtree did that better than anybody I know.” – Terry Garrison,
Glendale fi re chief
CHIEF FROM PAGE 1 kept fi refi ghters safe.”
Gray quickly climbed the ranks after he began his career with the department in 1961. He became fi re chief in 1973, was appointed as the public safety administrator for the city of Glendale in 1932 and was reappointed as fi re chief in 1986.
After committing years of service to the Glendale Fire Department, he retired in 1989.
“He believed in customer service delivery, he believed in the fi re department doing whatever they had to do to get in there and save lives, and he was very innovative. So were all these people here,” Glenn said, fi ghting back tears as he spoke about his late father.
When Gray became chief, the fi re department looked very different.
Glendale’s population is more than 200,000. When Gray became fi re chief, the population was 22,000 and his team had eight fi refi ghters, 16 reserves and two captains covering 9 square miles.
One of Gray’s accomplishments as chief was sponsoring a bill to have the fi rst Arizona State Paramedic Program in the early 1970s. Glendale, Phoenix and Tucson were the fi rst fi re departments to complete the program and have paramedics deliver service to their citizens.
Glendale eventually became the fi rst department to have two paramedics on every engine, which provided advanced life support and saved countless lives.
It is now standard practice across the Valley to have two paramedics on all fi re trucks.
During his time as chief, Gray created the fi rst hazardous materials team, banned smoking in fi re stations and fostered the fi re smoke alarm walk within the community.
His work bettered the Glendale Fire Department and other departments throughout the state. His contributions helped save many lives.
“My dad loved this city,” Glenn said. “He absolutely loved the city of Glendale. He loved the citizens. He believed in service and innovation. Innovation doesn’t happen without the support of everyone involved, and the impacts are seen on a daily basis. The number of lives saved and the amount of property saved can’t be calculated, can’t be writ-
Former Glendale Fire Chief Gray Crabtree was honored May 27 with a plaque that acknowledges his extraordinary accomplishments to modernize the department. Family, friends and dignitaries gathered to honor the former chief and to remember his many accomplishments. The plague adorns the north side of Fire Station 151 in Glendale. (Photo by Bette Sharpe/Glendale Daily Planet)
ten down, but it happens every day. I witness it every day from Mesa all the way here to Glendale.”
To end the ceremony, Capt. Ashley Losch, Glendale Fire Department’s public information offi cer, thanked the crowd for coming to honor Gray and encouraged everyone to continue his legacy.
“This is an important day for us to pay homage to Chief Crabtree. He really was an innovator in our department. In fact, I think he is probably the most innovative chief that we’ve ever had. He did some amazing things, not just for the Glendale Fire Department but for the Valley,” Losch said.
“So let’s keep innovating. Let’s keep moving forward in the spirit of Chief Crabtree.”
Get ready for the largest Independence Day fireworks show in the Valley!
